Sewer-ridden Beaches: ActionSA Prepares Legal Action Against eThekwini Metro
Zwakele Mncwango
ActionSA KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Chairperson
ActionSA’s legal team is preparing legal action against the eThekwini Metro for failing to urgently arrest the flow of effluent and waste into the river systems and oceans in the city, which has resulted in the closure of beaches, health concerns for residents and the long-term damage to sensitive ecosystems.
This comes after ActionSA, on 19 October 2022, issued the Municipality with a letter of demand urging them to address the matter. This situation has been allowed to continue in excess of 6 months and it must be stopped. Of equally grave concern is the apparent lack of a coherent plan and timeline to resolve the problem. The floods alone cannot be blamed for the prevailing situation.
To that end we will therefore ask the courts to compel the city to act and, if necessary, be held in contempt criminally for their failure to do so.
ActionSA, on 20 October 2022, launched a two-week online public participation process to hear first-hand the human cost of the eThekwini Municipality’s inaction from affected residents and businesses. ActionSA has been inundated with submissions solicited from the public which will now form the basis of the legal action we will take on behalf of South Africans adversely affected by the closure and damage to our coastline.
Section 152 of the Constitution of our Republic of South Africa is unequivocal on the responsibility of local governments to promote social and economic development and to provide a safe and healthy environment. In these respects, and for many months, eThekwini has objectively failed to live up to this prescript of our Constitution.
It is a tragedy that it is necessary for governments to be taken to court to compel them to attend to the fundamentals of service delivery. It is a demonstration of the role required from ActionSA to win support away from the ANC to ensure that new governing coalitions can take office and deliver the services that are needed by the residents of eThekwini and KwaZulu-Natal.
Sewer-ridden Beaches: ActionSA Prepares Legal Action Against eThekwini Metro
ActionSA’s legal team is preparing legal action against the eThekwini Metro for failing to urgently arrest the flow of effluent and waste into the river systems and oceans in the city, which has resulted in the closure of beaches, health concerns for residents and the long-term damage to sensitive ecosystems.
This comes after ActionSA, on 19 October 2022, issued the Municipality with a letter of demand urging them to address the matter. This situation has been allowed to continue in excess of 6 months and it must be stopped. Of equally grave concern is the apparent lack of a coherent plan and timeline to resolve the problem. The floods alone cannot be blamed for the prevailing situation.
To that end we will therefore ask the courts to compel the city to act and, if necessary, be held in contempt criminally for their failure to do so.
ActionSA, on 20 October 2022, launched a two-week online public participation process to hear first-hand the human cost of the eThekwini Municipality’s inaction from affected residents and businesses. ActionSA has been inundated with submissions solicited from the public which will now form the basis of the legal action we will take on behalf of South Africans adversely affected by the closure and damage to our coastline.
Section 152 of the Constitution of our Republic of South Africa is unequivocal on the responsibility of local governments to promote social and economic development and to provide a safe and healthy environment. In these respects, and for many months, eThekwini has objectively failed to live up to this prescript of our Constitution.
It is a tragedy that it is necessary for governments to be taken to court to compel them to attend to the fundamentals of service delivery. It is a demonstration of the role required from ActionSA to win support away from the ANC to ensure that new governing coalitions can take office and deliver the services that are needed by the residents of eThekwini and KwaZulu-Natal.